Editorial: Obamacare's cost is harder to dodge

The least persuasive line of spin from proponents of President Obama’s signature health care law? That it will lower health costs even as it covers millions of the uninsured and requires more solid health plans that wouldn’t squeeze patients who’d thought they had insurance.

News flash: There’s still no free lunch.

An actuarial study released last week on behalf of Covered California, the state’s new health insurance exchange, found that as the mandate to purchase insurance or face a fine takes effect next year, the average premiums for an individual health plan will rise 14 percent. And nobody who buys their own health insurance would ever claim it was cheap to begin with.

Some will be quick to blame Obamacare for the spike. The truth is more complex. The study reports rates would have risen an average of 9 percent anyway. Rising payments to providers, new procedures, and higher use and cost of prescription drugs are pushing medical costs higher, just as they have for years.

The health care law, however, also plays a role. New patients coming into the system and required new coverage of “essential benefits” push costs up further. Monthly premiums will also rise thanks to caps on out-of-pocket costs for treatment, but that could be a wash for patients.

The upside is that working- and middle-class insurance buyers will enjoy subsidies, based on their income, that could make insurance affordable for the first time. Of course, we’re paying for that through higher taxes.

The benefits of the health care law — ensuring coverage so illnesses don’t go untreated or leave families bankrupt — are real. So is the bill. Don’t let anyone pretend otherwise.